Industry Interviews

Cocktails and Recipes

Follow Me on Twitter!

Copyright

Copyright is inherent when an original work is created. This means that the producer of original work is automatically granted copyright protection. This copyright protection not only exists in North America, but extends to other countries as well.
Thus, all of the work produced on this blog is protected by copyright, including all of the pictures and all of the articles. These original works may not be copied or reused in any way whatsoever without the permission of the author, Chip Dykstra.

Email Subscription

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Visitors

Review: Bermudez Ron Viejo Blanco

The Ron Bermudez Company, has a long history that stretches back to 1852 with the Bermudez Distillery being the oldest commercial rum distillery in the Dominican Republic. In fact, both the company (and the distillery) are almost as old as the Dominican Republic itself, and I think it is easy to suggest that the Ron Bermudez Company represents an important part of the history of the Island. Don Erasmo Bermudez apparently created the company’s first rum, sold as Bitter Panacea, and it quickly became extremely popular providing the foundation for the company’s initial success.

Although the Bermudez Ron Viejo Blanco is not a typical clear white rum, the words on the bottle ‘Viejo Blanco’ translate from Spanish to English as ‘Old White’. Unlike other white rums which may be aged a few years and then filtered clear, the Ron Viejo Blanco does not undergo a filtering process prior to bottling. Exactly how long the rum ages in oak is unclear to me, but based upon the colour of the rum in the bottle, I would guess it is aged anywhere from 3 months to a year.

In the Bottle 4/5

The Viejo Blanco arrives in a tall, clear bottle bearing a simple white label with strong easy to read black and red fonts. My bottle label is entirely in Spanish, but as indicated above, I can roughly translate the Viejo Blanco name to discern some information as to the rum’s age. I can also clearly see that this rum is bottled at 40 % alcohol by volume. A gold foil sits atop the pressed on screw at the top of the bottle. The display is rather simplistic; but, for an entry-level rum it is acceptable.

In the Glass 8.5/10

In my glass, the rum is a very pale brown colour which when held up to the light displays a greenish tint. The colour is very reminiscent of Reposado Tequila which has not been coloured with caramel.

A very gentle toffee/molasses rises out of the glass followed by a soft waft of oak spice, banana and orange peel. I allowed the glass to breathe for about two minutes, and I was rewarded with the inviting scent of brown sugar and cinnamon baking spice. The aroma was much nicer than I was anticipating. There is very little harshness or medicinal quality in the breezes above the glass. I also did not detect any of the vegetal tones are reminiscent of a very young spirit. My thoughts here are that the rum displays a nose which is more consistent with an 3-year-old rum than one which has been aged less than a 1 year.

When I swirled the rum, I noticed a little smooth oil on the side of the glass. As I watched, small droplets of rum formed and began to slide back down the inside of that glass. I nosed the rum one last time, and the fully decanted spirit had become more heavily scented with a spicy toffee aroma and with firmer accents of citrus.

In the Mouth 54/60

The Bermudez Ron Viejo has a similar (although much lighter) taste profile to the Bermudez Don Armando which I have previously reviewed. It is I admit not nearly as suave and smooth as the older rum; but it is much smoother than most other ‘blanco’ rums I have encountered to date. The main characteristics of flavour are a firm but light oak spice, a mellow butterscotch, a hint of orange peel, dabs of cinnamon, and perhaps a smidgen of Apricot Brandy. Perhaps the apricot flavour was imagined, but I seemed to find it resting with light oak spices.

As far as mixing goes the rum is outstanding. I especially like the rum in a Cuba Libre, and it mixing well in fruited cocktails like the Daiquiri and the Mojito also.

In the Throat 12.5/15

The rum has a smooth exit leaving a nice light toffee and citrus spice on the back of my palate. The burn was strong enough to warm my throat; but there was not enough burn to be uncomfortable. A lack of bitterness capped the experience, which is exactly how I like my rum to finish.

The Afterburn 9/10

The Bermudez Ron Viejo Blanco was an unexpected surprise. When I arranged for my rum club to be given a sample bottle for testing and sampling, the reaction to the Bermudez Viejo Blanco was very enthusiastic. Unanimously, the feeling was that this rum had character similar to an aged amber rum. I even caught glimpses of some members slipping back to the bottle to steal a second sample even though we also had much older bottles to sample from that evening. These experiences confirmed my believe that this is no ordinary blanco rum; it is a nice smooth rum with a gentle flavour profile which can hold its own with older rums.

If you are interested in comparing more scores, here is a link to my other published Rum Reviews.

My Final Score is out of 100 and you may (loosely) interpret the score as follows:

0-25 A spirit with a rating this low would actually kill you.
26-49 Depending upon your fortitude you might actually survive this.
50 -59 You are safe to drink this…but you shouldn’t.
60-69 Substandard swill which you may offer to people you do not want to see again.
70-74 Now we have a fair mixing rum or whisky. Accept this but make sure it is mixed into a cocktail.
75-79 You may begin to serve this to friends, again probably still cocktail territory.
80-84 We begin to enjoy this spirit neat or on the rocks. (I will still primarily mix cocktails)
85-89 Excellent for sipping or for mixing!
90-94 Definitely a primary sipping spirit, in fact you may want to hoard this for yourself.
95-97.5 The Cream of the Crop
98+ I haven’t met this bottle yet…but I want to.

Very loosely we may put my scores into terms that you may be familiar with on a Gold, Silver, and Bronze medal scale as follows: